TEE POLITICAL DESTINY OF CANADA. 



229 



of control in the affairs of the empire, to say 

 nothing of the cost at which such share of con- 

 trol would have to be purchased, yet I cannot 

 but admire the machinery devised by Sir Julius 

 Vogel for exercising such control. A Board of 

 Advice to the Secretary of State for the Colonies ! 

 Those acquainted with the mode of conducting 

 public business in England must have smiled at 

 the idea of a Board of Advice to the Secretary of 

 State for the Colonies exercising an influence over 

 any affairs of the empire in which the colonies 

 could be interested other than their own, with 

 which they certainly do not want any interference 

 in Downing Street. 



I have failed to discover in the paper under 

 consideration that Sir Julius Vogel has estab- 

 lished any of the propositions which I have cited. 

 I maintain that the subsisting relations between 

 the mother-country aud the colonies are entirely 

 satisfactory. While engaged in writing this pa- 

 per, I read with pleasure in a speech recently de- 

 livered by the Hon. Alexander Mackenzie, First 

 Minister of the Dominion, the following passage : 



" I am not ashamed to stand here as a Canadian 

 minister and say that it is my duty — as it certainly 

 is my pleasure — to do everything in my power to 

 promote feelings of harmony and friendship be- 

 tween the two great branches of tbe English race 

 which occupy this continent to the exclusion of 

 others. If that is what they call promoting an- 

 nexation, if that is a feeling to which they object, 

 I cannot help saying that it is a feeling which I 

 am proud to entertain. I believe we have two sys- 

 tems of government on this continent, either of 

 which is eminently calculated to promote the hap- 

 piness of mankind. I believe that our system is 

 freer than that of the United States, because Eng- 

 lish ministers and members of Parliament are held 

 directly responsible to the people, while the Presi- 

 dent of the United States has a power not possessed 

 by the Queen of England— an autocratic power to 

 which the people of Canada would never submit. 

 This is why I believe our system is the best, and 

 I know that many of their public men agree with 

 me in thinking our system the best. "We have, 

 therefore, not only a country to be proud of, but 

 we have also a political system in which we may 

 well take a pride ; and it is the duty, and should 

 be the pleasure, of every Canadian statesman wor- 

 thy of the name to do everything in his power 

 to exalt that system, to bear aloft in free Canada 

 the flag of the empire as the ensign of human 

 freedom." 



I believe that the leader of the Opposition would 

 cordially subscribe to the sentiments expressed 

 by Mr. Mackenzie, and that they would be echoed 

 by both branches of the Dominion Parliament. 



And yet Sir Julius Yogel asserts that our rela- 

 tions are unsatisfactory. 



I entirely dissent from the proposition that a 

 union depending upon pleasure " means separa- 

 tion sooner or later." There can be no union 

 except with the concurrence — that is, during the 

 pleasure — of both parties. As to the assertion 

 that " much is being done to hasten separation,'' 

 I have no hesitation in affirming that the only 

 parties who are working to this end are those 

 who, like Sir Julius Vogel, are using their en- 

 deavors to create an impression that the colonial 

 system of self-government is not working satis- 

 factorily. It is not easy to understand the mean- 

 ing of the proposition that " the mother-country 

 is entitled to maintain and consolidate her pos- 

 sessions." It probably implies some coercive 

 measure, for otherwise it would have no meaning 

 at all. I have entirely failed to discover from the 

 paper of Sir Julius Vogel how imperial confeder- 

 ation would promote trade, increase the value of 

 property, or augment the happiness of the people. 

 That it would augment their taxes admits of no 

 doubt. 



I cannot conclude these observations without 

 expressing my earnest hope that those people in 

 England who trouble themselves about colonial 

 affairs — and I should infer from Sir Julius Vo- 

 gel's paper that the number is very small — will 

 judge of the nature of the relations between the 

 mother-country and the colonies by the declara- 

 tions of the respective ministers of tbe crown, 

 and by the action of the respective Parliaments, 

 and will not be influenced by the speculative 

 opinions of individuals who, whatever may have 

 been their experience, have no authority to rep- 

 resent the feelings and wishes of the inhabitants 

 of the dependencies of the empire. 



I had transmitted to England the preceding 

 observations before I had an opportunity of see. 

 ing Lord Blachford's article on " The Integrity of 

 the British Empire," in the October number of 

 the Nineteenth Century. Concurring as I do in 

 the conclusions arrived at by Lord Blachford, 

 his lordship's paper has nevertheless induced me 

 to make an addition to my own. Lord Blach- 

 ford's remarks on the land revenue may be ap- 

 plicable to the Australasian colonies, but certain- 

 ly not to Canada. Lord Blachford observes : 



" To perpetuate the application of the land fund 

 or any proportion of it to the assistance of Eng. 

 lish laborers would have been to deprive the col- 

 onies of an important branch of income, and to 

 apply that income in a way which would cheapen 

 colonial labor." 



